


Proposition

by redcandle17



Category: Annihilation (2018 Garland)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-13 09:56:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21242219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redcandle17/pseuds/redcandle17
Summary: "No one should spend the night before a big mission alone."





	Proposition

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SadieFlood](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SadieFlood/gifts).

It's their last night before they go into the Shimmer. It may be their last night alive. Lena eats dinner with Cass, Anya, and Josie, and then she drinks with them. After two beers she finds herself thinking about Dr. Ventress. Dr. Ventress has never joined them or even appeared in the common and dinning areas. She takes all her meals alone in her office. 

Lena has talked with her every day for the past six days, but she still knows almost nothing about her. Despite this, Dr. Ventress seems to like her, or at least she likes talking with her. She's told Lena frustratingly little about the Shimmer because there's little known about it, and she's told her little about Kane, either out of some sense of confidentiality or because she enjoys making Lena worry about what she knows. 

"I'm going to turn in early," Lena tells the others. She isn't sure why she lies to them.

She doesn't go to her temporary quarters; she goes to Dr. Ventress's office. 

Ventress is alone. If she's surprised to see Lena, she doesn't show it. There's classical music playing and there's a bottle of wine and a single wine glass on her desk. 

"This is it," Lena says. "Tomorrow we find out what's in the Shimmer."

"How does that make you feel?" Ventress asks, always the psychologist. 

"How does it make _you_ feel?" Lena counters. 

Ventress looks thoughtful. She sips her wine before answering. "It makes me feel a sense of acceptance more than anything else. We all die, but at least I'll die knowing the answer to a great mystery."

"What do you think it is? I want to hear your personal speculation."

"I haven't offered you a drink, how rude of me." Ventress refills the wine glass. "I'm afraid I don't have another glass, so we'll have to share."

Lena accepts the glass of wine Ventress offers her, and takes a sip. It's a good Bordeaux, and for a moment Lena remembers Kane passionately insisting that no one could really taste notes in wine, and an afternoon spent wine-tasting with Dan, before she forces both memories away.

"No one should spend the night before a big mission alone," she says to Ventress. 

"Is that a proposition?" Ventress's gaze is locked with hers, but Ventress's face shows nothing. She could be joking, or she could be sexually propositioning Lena. 

Lena leans overs and presses her lips to Ventress's ear. "What do you think?"

"I think you're seeking a distraction to avoid-"

Lena cuts her off by placing her forefinger over Ventress's lips. "I think you need to stop thinking and just _live_."

Ventress bites her finger, a little too hard for it to be termed playful. "I believe I've forgotten how."

"I'll remind you," Lena promises, as she begins to unbutton Ventress's blouse.

And she keeps her promise.


End file.
